Misc. comments 21

[redbird]

Under the heading "Bi-Furious", bard_bloom posted about the odd and annoying term "bi-curious":

My impression of "bi-curious" is "I'm basically het, might fool around with someone of my own sex, but don't expect it to last, or to have any emotional depth."

I read it as a warning, because for me lovers is a subset of good friends. Someone who wants casual sex might consider it an advertisement.

Of course, I'm coming at this from the angle that, if I'd ever used the term for myself, it would have been "I know I'm attracted to members of my own gender, and what to do with/about that, I wonder what heterosexual relations are like." At this point, I use "bisexual" because it's the least misleading of the available labels: I notice women as attractive more often, and sooner, than I do men, but I'm still surprised that I'm involved with someone I didn't spend a few years getting to know first.

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mactavish explained why she doesn't play the "tell me if you have a crush on me" LJ meme/game. And I commented:

I wouldn't be too worried about differences in meaning. But if I were going to have such a conversation, I would rather have it one-on-one, not in my journal comments. And I really wouldn't want someone to feel that they had to post about it, if they'd decided for good reasons of their own that they didn't want to tell me. Someone else's crush on me isn't necessarily my business, after all.

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Prompted by micheinnz writing about why she is not a religious person:

Very nicely put.

I don't know if I have a path in that sense; I'm finding a good way through the world, but it doesn't have the spiritual elements you seem to be describing. It has humans and other animals and the life-filled Earth and universe. It suffices me.

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ozarque is discussing gendered and non-gendered pronouns, and what generally accepted non-gendered English pronoun might have on theology:

A male god is, in fact, part of the imagery and language of orthodox Christian theology. Right there in the Nicene Creed: "Begotten, not made, and of one being with the father."

Begetting is an explicitly male activity: women conceive and bear children, men beget them.

There may be a case for translating the Greek "monogenetos" as "of one kind" rather than "only begotten," but "begotten" is the English that Christians hear and repeat, over and over.

I suspect the whole "of one being" and idea that Jesus and God the Creator are the same entity, combined with Jesus' maleness, reinforces God-as-male.

N.B. I am not and never have been a Christian. My Greek is very rusty, and a quick google didn't find me the Greek text of said creed in any case.

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In a discussion of arguing with conservative Christians in lady_sisyphus's journal, tjackson wondered why he had labeled himself a conservative Christian, and suggested that "maybe someone could label me, then i'd know who the hell i was..." I wrote:

Note that "conservative" means several different things: traditionally, it's meant people who are cautious about change of any kind, and believe that, in general, what has been done for a long time is tested and thus good. More recently, it's come to be the label for a collection of ideas that don't have much in common logically or philosophically, including but not limited to wanting to impose some religious ideas even on nonbelievers; suspicion of science, especially evolution and other areas of modern biology; support of corporations against workers, consumers, and anything else that might threaten their profits; limited government; support of free trade and free markets [note that this often conflicts with pro-corporate protectionism]; aggressive policing that is more concerned with keeping the streets safe for those considered innocent than with being certain that those punished are guilty; defending sexism, racism, and homophobia; and aggressive American militarism.

It's entirely possible, thus, for you to be a "conservative" Christian in the sense of preferring older forms of worship and being utterly convinced of the reality of the historical Jesus and the truth of every word of the Nicene Creed, and not politically conservative in any of the senses above.

Comments

[grendel1031.livejournal.com]

In the discussion of Conservative Christians, particularly the comment about "limited government", it should be noted:
This limit may be forgotten when there is a presidential election at stake, when individuals make choices which do not conform to the Powers' idea of Moral, and when it is politically advantageous to intercede in citizens' private lives and activities.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

I, like bard_bloom am bi-fretful about 'bi-curious'. I usually take it to mean 'closeted and/or iggerant', which I learned long ago to avoid.

Posting or asking about crushes in here feels too, I don't know, pressure-y and exhibitionist-ish. I don't want to do it.

I'm glad that you're tranlating the word 'conservative' into exshull English: it's a subversive thing these days to expose weaselly word-stealing!

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

Hey! most of my post got Eaten.

I, like bard_bloom am bifretful about the identity 'bicurious'. I take it to mean 'closeted or iggerant' and feel it's a Will Robinson alert.

My take on naming and asking about crushes in here is that, for me, it's too pressure-y and too exhibitionist-ish. I don't want to do it, and don't like that some folks may think I don't fancy them when I do (but feel unable to post that I do in memes).

I read ozarque's post, and agree that the Deity is psychologically male in your and my society. I often find it hard to believe protestations to the contrary.

It's kewl that you have translated 'conservative' back into English as she is spoke, and admirably subversive these days (I believe) to expose an instance of weaselly word-stealing.

-Main Gauche of Desirable Mindfulness